The Detective’s DeskHARD · CASE FILE
Hard · An exhibition with an apparent desk alibi
A badge appears to keep the steward at reception while a drawing is replaced. Follow the original, identify who actually used the display key and determine what the runner understood.
Read the case file below, or open the interactive desk to examine records, keep notes and submit your reasoning. These are the case materials, without the solution.
The original is detained inside the building. The display key, badge return and public demonstration have independent records. Nobody else enters through an unrecorded route.
Artist
I argued about my missing payment, but stayed at the public demonstration.
The demonstration camera shows me with visitors throughout the display opening.
Installer
I delivered an empty frame to the storeroom and returned through the loading camera.
The displayed drawing has a torn corner under its mount; the decorative print has no tear.
Reception runner
I returned Mina’s badge to the reader while she went to collect her coat. I did not know she was entering the display.
Her written errand asked for a badge return only.
Exhibition steward
I signed out the display key for a routine check. The badge log places me at reception afterward.
The reception reader accepts a badge placed in its slot; it does not identify the person wearing it.
Read each record on its own terms. A claim made by a person is different from a fact established by an independent record.
Physical record · Display room
The mounted item has no hidden corner tear and is the decorative print. The torn original is recovered from Mina’s rolled poster tube during a supervised search.
Physical record · Display room
Mina’s authenticated draft offers the torn original to a private buyer. The artist’s correspondence expressly withholds permission for a private sale.
Physical record · Reception
Leo inserts Mina’s badge into the return reader. Its 18:12 entry records the badge under Mina’s account, not a sighting of Mina at the desk.
Physical record · Loading bay
Jo remains at the public demonstration and Nabil on the frame-delivery route. The original drawing is not in Nabil’s independently photographed empty frame.
Physical record · Reception
Mina asks Leo only to return her badge. She calls the trip a coat collection and does not tell him about the drawing. His reply confirms only the badge errand.
Physical record · Display room
The adjacent mirror recording clearly shows Mina’s face as she uses the display key, removes the torn original and inserts the print. A badge log cannot negate this identified physical action.
Use the interactive case desk to select your finding and cite the records that support it. The answer is checked there, and your progress stays in your browser.
Compare the records with each account. Work out what the evidence establishes, then separate that finding from anything it does not prove.